The Santa Trader

Ornate Santa Buckle

We are now accepting orders on the Ornate Santa Buckle. The Ornate Santa Buckle is a uniquely decorative buckle inspired to have an antique feel to it.

Each buckle is crafted out of nickel, gold plated, and polished to a brilliant shiny luster, and then lacquered to preserve the look. After gold plating, an antique stain is also available to further accent all the tiny details. If preferred, other finishes also available, please note so when ordering.

The Ornate Santa Buckle will be offered at the affordable price of $98.00 each.

Special ClausNet Offer!

All orders placed within the continental US, throughout June and July will ship free! Just mention you saw this ad in the ClausNet Gazette!

For all orders to Canada and abroad please contact for us additional shipping fees.

These long awaited buckles will be made to order, so please allow until August 15 for arrival.

To place your orders, contact: Steve Pulera
steve@realreindeer.com

2012 Jim Yellig Santa Claus Workshop

Our 2011 Workshop was attended by over 125 Santas and Mrs. Clauses from across the nation! The 2012 Workshop promises to be even bigger and better!

The 2012 Jim Yellig Santa Claus Workshop is an open forum for all Santas, Mrs. Clauses, Elves, and Santa Claus Helpers to discuss, participate, improve, and learn from each other, on topics that promote the ideals of the Santa Claus Legend.

Free Admission!

The Jim Yellig Santa Claus Workshop is presented by Midwest Santa and is produced free of charge to the Santa Claus Community by the Santa Claus Oath Foundation. There are no fees, dues, deposits, or balances to pay off! Simply pay for your own expenses.

Free Vendor Space!

We appreciate the vendors and Santa Schools that serve the Santa Claus Community and it our pleasure to say thank you with free vendor spaces.

Christmas Trivia

In the lyrics of the Christmas carol We Wish You a Merry Christmas, the party-goers refuse to leave until they get some figgy pudding.

The history of figgy pudding dates back to the early 16th century. Figgy pudding -- sometimes called Christmas pudding or plum pudding -- is actually more of a cake than a pudding.

There are hundreds of recipes for figgy pudding. The texture is similar to fruitcake. The pudding can be baked, steamed, boiled, or fried

Birthday Wishes!

Happy Birthday! This month there are 62 ClausNet members celebrating a birthday!

Please join us in wishing your fellow ClausNet members a happy birthday!

SantaDale

Magic Santa Michael

Santa Ray in CB

Santa SteveMN

Santa Dan

Santa Tim Connaghan

PattyClaus

Santa Cobber

RealSantaJim

SCSanta

Mrs. Schotsi Claus

Santa Steve H

Santa Benjamin

Old Sante Claus

Santa Lamar

Santa Paul

SCSmall

SantaRod

SantaBryan

Santa Clausen

Santa Timm

Santa Gary

Santa Paul RI

Kanakaloka

Santa Richard Scott

Santa Fred

Grandma Claus

Santa Bob SC

SantaWelty

Santa David Hoopes

Santa Claus Ohio

Meme Claus

Brian

Santa Snow

Santa Reid Fletcher

Santa Andy

Santa Niels

Santa Tom B

Santa Bob M

Loretta Knez

MrsSantaClausOh

Santa Chuck L

Santa Jim North

Santa Eddie

SantasHelper

Rhode Island Santa

Santa Val

Señora C

Santa Stupak

Santa Big Fred

Gator Claus

Santa Sullivan

JohnR Santa

Santa John Smith

Elf Lori

SantaBob200

Kevin

Santa SunBear

OhMrsClaus

Santa Ben Cobb

Elf Kat

If you haven't already done so, please take a moment to wish your fellow members a Happy Birthday!

Christmas Podcasts

Merry Podcast Episode #5

This month's Merry Podcast features some of the best traditions of Christmas including: the Legend of Santa Claus, adventures in gift giving, Jeff Gould of A Prairie Christmas discussing Christmas on the Farm, an update from Rusty Belz at the North Pole, and much, much, more!.Listen online »

The Member Gallery

Here are a few of the latest pictures and videos from our Picture and Video Galleries!

ClausNet Quotes

"Thank You Mike for all of your hard work and dedication, we might use it and enjoy it but we owe a lot of gratitude to you and the staff! Thanks so much!"
-- Santa JerryO

ClausNet Toons!

I hate when the elves help decorate the tree...

ClausNet Statistics

As of this mailing, there are 1,117 registered members and a total of 161,482 posts. The most registered members online was 237! The total number of unique visitors to ClausNet in one day was 2,321!

Our newest member is Santa-Bri. Everyone, please take a moment to welcome our 1,117th registered member!

ClausNet Gazette

Our mailing list continues to grow! This month's ClausNet Gazette is going out to over 2,400 inboxes!

In The News

Gaumont-Alphanim preps 'Santa's Apprentice 2'

Variety -- French toon studio Gaumont-Alphanim is prepping "Santa's Apprentice 2," a sequel to its successful 2010 feature that plays in competition at the Annecy Animated Film Festival this week.

The sequel, which reunites helmer Luc Vinciguerra and scribe Alexandre Reverend, is skedded for delivery at Christmas 2012.

The original centered on Nicholas, an Australian boy chosen by Santa Claus to be his successor.

"Santa's Apprentice 2" sees Nicholas in charge of Santa's toy factory. But he learns there's a whole lot more responsibilities than he imagined.

" 'Santa's Apprentice 2' is really about learning to be yourself and dealing with things in your own way and rediscovering the magic of Christmas," Heath Kenny, Gaumont-Alphanim creative director, said at Annecy.Read More »

Planning Underway for Christmas Panorama

CD989FM.com -- Planning has begun for Simcoe Christmas Panorama and a few different ideas were brought forward at the Annual General Meeting.

Executive President of the Simcoe Christmas Panorama, Bryan Zilkey says they are working on a number of different ideas for this year including a couple ways that high school students can get involved.

Zilkey says one idea they want to introduce is a design competition to build displays for the Panorama and they will also need help this summer.Read More »

Activision enters the toy space

ToyNews -- Activision, the publisher of games such as Call of Duty, has announced a new IP ? Wappy Dog.
Developed by Sega Toys, Wappy Dog is a robotic toy that communicates with a DS gaming console.

It marks Activision's second foray into the toy sector following the announcement of Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure in February.Read More »

Ben 10 joins Eggbods

ToyNews -- Bluw toys will roll-out the popular boys licence alongside the new Transformers range.

?Being able to associate your products with these well established licenses is like getting a seal of a approval for your toys and allows you to get a step closer to achieving your targets, and more,? says Bluw?s creative director Brian Turner.Read More »

VTech results reveal strong toy revenues

The Hong Kong technology firm?s electronic learning range also grew in Europe, North America and Asia Pacific.
Revenue from electronic learning in Europe was $274 million, a 13.4 per cent increase, with VTech products being most popular in the UK and France.Read More »

Toys R Us details Cars 2 promotion

ToyNews -- The Cars 2 festivities will kick-off in the US on June 1st and will open internationally with the release of the Disney-Pixar sequel in each country.

As in the film, the racetracks will invite children to ?Race Around the World?, visiting locations like London, Paris and Tokyo.

The retailer will offer money-off deals and exclusive product lines, aiming to make itself the ?ultimate destination? for Cars 2 fans, carrying the ?broadest and most differentiated selection of toys.? Read More »

Featured Member - June 2011

Each month, our Featured Member section profiles one ClausNet member.

Members are chosen totally at random by myself and the staff. Once selected as the ClausNet Featured Member of the Month, we interview the candidate and post the interview on ClausNet.com. This is a great way to get to know your fellow ClausNet members!

This month our featured ClausNet Member is Santa John in WV!

I am happy to announce that our June 2011 ClausNet Featured Member of the Month is Santa John in WV!

Santa John joined us back in 2008 and has been a key contributor to ClausNet ever since! One of the great things about doing these interviews is learning more about each member and how much many of us have in common with one another. Santa John started off playing Santa Claus like a few of us at an early age -- myself included!

Among Santa John's many talents, he plays guitar, banjo, Autoharp, base, and lap dulcimer. I had to look that last one up -- and I was a music major! I interviewed Santa John a few weeks ago. Here is what he had to say...Read the entire interview »

Texas Santas bring toys and joy to children in Joplin recently devastated by the tornados

Things Children Say To Santa

This afternoon, about a dozen of us Santas from Texas left for Joplin, MO to take up 2 trailers full plus RV's and pickups full of toys. They will be passed out to the children in Oklahoma City and Joplin whose families were devastated by the recent tornados. We took up about 1000 toys plus about 10 cases of children's books and evangelistic booklets as well. We may well run out.

This whole effort has grown a great deal from an idea last week, and most of us (probably all of us) want to see this as a regular effort of Santas here in Texas. As natural disasters occur in our region, we want to be prepared to take caravans to these locales to bless the children and families. This is an effort that is part of our 'Lone Star Santa' organization here in Texas.
It will mean that we will need to begin toy drives immediately on our return.

The reason I bring this up here is two-fold. First and most important, it is an effort that completely is in character with Santa. It is who we are that we look out after the needs of others and try to bless them in as many ways as we can. It is almost more important for us to do these kind of things as it is for the children and families that will be blessed by it.

Second, there is something to be said for forward thinking. We got going on this quite late and still came up with about 1000 gifts plus books and things. But with more planning and preparation, we will be able to better meet and bless others. I don't know how many states and regions have regional Santa groups, but this is something that has been great fun for all of us.

We have learned some important short cuts and resources that I will attempt to write up and provide to anyone who wants to run with this in their own area.

Santa-America News

June 2011

I never thought too much about my family health history until recently. It all started when I had acute appendicitis just as the Santa Season was about to start. It wasn?t fun and I spent six days in the hospital recuperating.

One day before being discharged I awoke to a young Doctor by my bedside who wanted to talk to me. He told me not to be alarmed but the CT Scans before my surgery had disclosed some growths on my kidneys which were baffling him and his colleagues. He was quick to say it wasn?t cancerous but he would like to take more comprehensive scans. Subsequent CT Scans since my operation have not revealed any activity of these growths and I will continue to be monitored on a regular basis.

My youngest son is in his late thirties and developed a Kidney Stone. While his Doctor was reviewing his Scan he noticed some growths on my Son?s Kidneys. My Son?s Wife is a nurse and hearing we both had growths on the Kidneys started her connecting the dots on the Family Health Tree. We don?t have a solution why the growths appeared but we have started a record which may become invaluable in the future for other family members. My personal situation led me to investigate the idea of a Family Health History and the article which follows is provided by the Center for Disease Control.

Family members share genes, behaviors, lifestyles, and environments that together may influence their health and their risk of chronic disease. Most people have a family health history of some chronic diseases (e.g., cancer, coronary heart disease, and diabetes) and health conditions (e.g., high blood pressure and hypercholesterolemia). People who have a close family member with a chronic disease may have a higher risk of developing that disease than those without such a family member.

Family health history is a written or graphic record of the diseases and health conditions present in your family. A useful family health history shows three generations of your biological relatives, the age at diagnosis, and the age and cause of death of deceased family members.

Family health history is a useful tool for understanding health risks and preventing disease in individuals and their close relatives.
Some people may know a lot about their family health history or only a little. It is helpful to talk with family members about your health history, write this information down, and update it from time to time. This way family members will have organized and accurate information ready to share with their health care provider.

Family health history information may help health care providers determine which tests and screenings are recommended to help family members know their health risk.

To help individuals collect and organize their family history information, CDC?s Office of Public Health Genomics collaborated with the U.S. Surgeon General and other federal agencies to develop a Web-based tool called, ?My Family Health Portrait.? You may download the form by going to www.CDC.gov Enter, My Family Health Portrait in the search box which will put you at the site to download the information.

Photo Stars Wanted

Santa America is looking for Santa?s to be Calendar Art.

Are you a Santa who has shed 15, 30, 70 or more pounds? Do you have a before and After picture? Would you pose for a Santa Calendar promoting good health habits.

We want to have your picture as one of our Santa Models who in the interest of good health have shed a few pounds. We would like one picture of you ?before? and one picture ?after?

For consenting to have your pictures As part of our calendar you will receive a quantity of calendars for family and friends.

The Calendars will be sold as a fund raiser with the proceeds going to Santa America, Inc. Participating in the Calendar Art will enable Santa America, Inc to continue its work with Children?s Hospice Care, visits to Autistic Children, programs for the families of returning service personal and addressing children?s health needs.

A Kringle Memory: Mike and Anna

Elf Without Jingles

In the heart of Downtown Brooklyn, across the street from the renovated headquarters of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, there stands MetroTech Center, headquarters of the New York City Fire Department.

MetroTech is also home to what used to be known as the Brooklyn Union Gas Company. There was a time, you see, when Brooklyn Union shared a very special holiday gift with the people it served. They were called the Brooklyn Union Festival Chorus.
They were not your average choir from Brooklyn.

Each and every member of the Chorus was also an employee of the company. They had cemented their reputation by singing for public officials on both local and national levels. But each year, just before Christmas, the Brooklyn Union Festival Chorus made the lobby of their headquarters building their own, by staging three different sets of concerts, one for the morning, one for the early afternoon, and the third for the 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. visitors, every day, five days a week, right up to Christmas Eve.

These concerts were special because local schools from all across Brooklyn would spend time in the lobby, listening to Skip, the Chorus' energetic music director, leading his singers in traditional carols and pop-style arrangements of holiday favorites. Though all they had to accompany them were a simple piano and drum set, the Chorus never failed to enchant the visitors.

The 3 to 5 concerts were of extremely special significance, because they culminated in a visit from Santa Claus and his faithful Elf. I should know. For several years, I attended these concerts --- partly to listen to the Chorus sing, and especially to visit Santa and his Elf. They, too, worked for Brooklyn Union: Mike portrayed Santa; Anna dressed up in the Elf costume, complete with pointy ears (and no, you were not allowed to touch those pointy ears!).

For two hours after the Chorus' last set of the day, Mike and Anna had the Brooklyn Union lobby all to themselves! Mike would sit on Santa's throne, ringing his trusty set of jingle bells, while Anna would hand out candy canes from a huge glass jar. And of course, photos were more than welcome --- they were encouraged!
As time wore on, Mike and Anna and the Festival Chorus kept the magic coming. Even when Brooklyn Union changed its name to KeySpan, everybody continued to look forward to those magical December afternoons, when the now KeySpan Festival Chorus made their lobby come to life for the season!

Post-9/11, though, things started changing. Budget cuts forced the Festival Chorus to limit their annual holiday performances to a single week during December (they did, happily, retain the five-day-a-week format). And Mike and Anna as Santa and his Elf always made the visitors welcome and kept everyone laughing.

Alas, after the company once again changed its name --- this time to National Grid --- nothing more was heard of the Festival Chorus. Last I heard, Mike and Anna were no longer employed by the company. As for the singers themselves, I haven't been able to determine their status for quite some time now.

There's a lesson to be learned from this saga: Take pride in the Santa Claus that you grew up with, kids. The memories will last forever; staying in touch with your fellow Kringle --- well, let's just say you can sometimes, but not necessarily foreverRead more »

Santa Claus Hall of Fame

Each month we feature an inductee of the Santa Claus Hall of Fame. This month we profile Robert George

Robert George was Santa Claus to six U.S. Presidents and his year-round Christmas display charmed thousands of disadvantaged and disabled children at his home in Southern California.

George started life as a barber from Columbus, Nebraska. He started to play Santa in 1949 to disadvantaged and needy children.
After retiring from cutting hair, he moved to Los Angeles in 1962 where he bought a home and decorated it as a permanent display called ?Santa?s Dreamland.?

He became the nations official Santa Claus in 1956 for President Dwight D. Eisenhower. He subsequently accepted similar invitations from Presidents John F. Kennedy, Richard M. Nixon, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter and George H. W. Bush.

A movie based loosely on George?s life called ?A Different Kind of Christmas? aired on the Lifetime Channel in 1997

"Santa is for everyone. He?s for your grandmother; he?s for a little two year old. He?s innocence, he?s beautiful and he has human emotion. Santa is not God, but is a man made symbol for the Christmas Spirit. Most importantly Santa exists for all of us that look for him in our hearts and souls."